


the tender flesh of her prey

by saintarchangel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Trans Character, thryce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 09:36:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13338480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintarchangel/pseuds/saintarchangel
Summary: to think she cared how highly thrawn regarded her… arihnda pryce, the woman herself who had sold her own home planet to a corrupt empire to advance her career? she who had never cared for others opinions? ridiculous.





	the tender flesh of her prey

**Author's Note:**

> so yeah i had this sitting around; im not going to continue it most likely. i wrote this before the thrawn book was released. my headcanon: thrawn is a woman and also a lesbian. pryce is also a lesbian. thats all

endless talks of rebels always followed after every contact with them, thrawn standing in front of her projections of the marks they left in the landscape and arihnda herself standing next to her. sometimes there were others, whose disillusioned remarks earned nothing more than a pitiful look from thrawn.

this far, she had earned less of those looks, and more silent acknowledgments of her input as a born lothal citizen. not that arihnda liked to advertise it, but she doubted thrawn didnt know. much to her chagrin, thrawn knew much, much more than she herself. talking to thrawn was more like trying to decipher a cursive handwriting and flowery phrases of a recipe for an antidote, every failing to understand leading to deaths.

deaths of your own ego, honour, or the way thrawn saw you.

to think she cared how highly thrawn regarded her… arihnda pryce, the woman herself who had sold her own home planet to a corrupt empire to advance her career? she who had never cared for others opinions? ridiculous.  
what made it terrible was that she knew she couldnt hold that as a secret from thrawn. it was a fact of their ebbing conversation: for her to try to get in her good graces, and thrawn jotting that down that in the big notebook of failures of governor pryce that in no doubt existed in her head.

sometimes, arihnda almost felt as if she got something back, an offering-- but always, it was just a tactic to make her talk more. arihnda was no fool to it, but still, she couldnt help but feel pleased, to think thrawn had bothered. but perhaps it was in her nature to learn everything she could of everyone.

the blue light from holoimages illuminated the sharp angles of thrawns face, highlighting the calculating look in her red eyes with a cold glow. her long fingers delicately held her angular chin in an expression even thrawn didnt notice to control. to see her always adopt this pose when she was in thought…

arihnda let herself watch, turning her gaze away only when thrawn turned to look at her in turn. the corner of her mouth curled upwards. thrawn made no mention of it.  
“so…” she let the word hang in the air, thrawns eyes following her until she passed her line of sight and the chiss looked back at the images shivering in the air. thrawn waited patiently on whatever arihnda was doing, knowing her not to be much of a fighter in case of an unlikely faltering of her imperial alignings.

arihnda dragged her fingertips along the table… of course, not a speck of dust in sight. her synthetic gloves left no trace on the black surface. thrawns head tilted to the side, as if she was listening to her even if she hadnt moved since arihnda had left her side. waiting like some sort of predator, ready to sink her claws into the tender flesh of her prey… arihnda, for one, would not have complained.

  
she sat down on thrawns chair, the fillings giving in and making a brief noise as it adjusted to her body weight. thrawn turned around. certainly unprecented: no-one else had been bold enough to disrespect her like that.  
“you have certainly succeeded in capturing my attention, governor pryce,” she started, “though your actions do not surprise me in the slightest.”

“am i that predictable?” arihnda replied, a smile playing on her lips. thrawn was not smiling. the look on her face… like a statue. a shame, since shed looked nice with her face lighting up with a smile… or something else. thrawn didnt give her the grace of a reply, but stepped closer, slowly circling her table. arihnda crossed a leg over the other, mimicking the posture thrawn so often had.

  
“nothing you have done has surprised me," thrawn said.

“i would expect nothing less from the grand admiral herself.”

“i have seen people willingly jeopardize their careers for less, but at first i wouldnt have believed it of the famed governor pryce-”

“famed?” she laughed, pretending she hadnt heard the cruel sarcasm. “oh, hardly. im just one in a thousand, trying to move up in the ranks.” the admittance wouldve been bitter to hear from anyone else but herself. it felt more like a victory at this point: revealing knowledge of herself thrawn knew for sure, and she wanted to flaunt that she was more self-aware than previously assumed. thrawn took a few steps, her heels clacking against the ground, until she was standing in front of arihnda, arms crossed behind her back.

“more self-aware than she seems,” thrawn said, hand lifting to her chin as if presented with an interesting specimen to experiment on. arihnda reveled in it.

  
thrawn leaned forward slowly, doubling her tall frame over until her hands were securely on the armrests. arihnda lifted her chin until she met thrawns gaze. her eyes were red-- yet colder than the watery blue of her own eyes. sunken from endless sleepless nights. thrawns complexion, in turn, seemed flawless.

she reached her hand up to caress thrawns cheek, following the high arch of her cheekbone and--  
“were done here. i hope you can see yourself out.” thrawn intended to straighten herself, but arihnda grabbed her by the collar of her white uniform, pulling her face down so close that their lips touched when she spoke: “you think so, grand admiral, whose attention ive sought so hard to capture?”

she lowered her voice when thrawns hand shot up, grasping her wrist so hard it hurt, her face distorting into a sneer, a growl as she prepared to lash out. arihnda didnt let her grasp on her collar go, switching to cheuhn she had spent nights practicing: “the now-grand admiral mitth'raw'nuruodo, her past shrouded in a mystery of intentional meddling and the fact that all her enemies fall, none to tell the tale? the very one so close to my grasp? id endanger more than my career for that.” her lips brushed against thrawns. thrawn didnt move for a time.

  
arihndas hand was cramping from the force with which thrawn held her wrist when thrawn stirred.

“...perhaps i havent given you enough credit for your skills, governor arihnda pryce.” her voice was more of a breath against her lips than anything audible.. and the way she spoke her native tongue made arihndas words seem like a crude mocking attempt. her hold on the governors wrist loosened, and arihnda let go of the crumpled fabric of thrawns collar, tracing the spots where thrawns skin had depressed where the collar had painfully sunk into her flesh from the tight grasp on her uniform.

“perhaps you have not,” arihnda said, pronouncing the words carefully. one mistake, she felt, and thrawn wouldve struck her aside. she was standing on a rope pulled taut over a sarlacc pit-- though that sounded less appealing than waking to thrawns hand on her throat. she closed the distance in between their lips, pressing hers against thrawns, taking her lower lip in between hers.

  
thrawn jerked her head backwards, her slender fingers coming up to hold arihndas face. arihnda felt… disappointed, for the endless two seconds it took thrawn to push forward on her own terms. she kissed her: hard, but with precise movements, as if she had planned it all in advance.

she forgot what she had meant to do: her heartrate quickened and she gave into thrawns kisses, her tongue sliding between her lips. she had, surely, thought of what she wanted to do... but with thrawns hand tilting up her face and her lips on hers, she suddenly couldnt recall. thrawn could have now slid a dagger between her ribs to pierce her beating heart, and she wouldve thanked her.

no blade came, save for the hand thrawn slid between her crossed legs, pressing her thigh until she gave up and spread her legs, thrawns fingers creeping up below her tunic and against her crotch. arihnda breathed out against her lips but just like in war, thrawn was relentless: she kissed her again, sharp teeth grazing her lips. far too soon, thrawn withdrew her hand. arihnda opened her eyes and was met with thrawns gaze, just as steely as always, but less like a cold blade and more like a freshly forged saber.

“thats all?” arihnda said, not even trying to curb her disappoinment: it was plain and obvious in the way her kiss-swollen lips turned pouty like she was a few ten years younger. thrawn straightened to her full height, her chest heaving more visibly than usually, red eyes looking down upon arihnda pryce.


End file.
